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Forgotten Realms: The Scions of Arrabar #1
The Sapphire Crescent
The Sapphire Crescent - "a mercenary order sworn to defend a god, but bent to the will of mortals..."
When family turns on family, it's business as usual in Arrabar, but when a family turns on itself, an entire nation may be torn assunder.
When family turns on family, it's business as usual in Arrabar, but when a family turns on itself, an entire nation may be torn assunder.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2003
6 people are currently reading
515 people want to read
About the author
Thomas M. Reid
54 books58 followersThomas M. Reid grew up in Dallas, Texas as an enthusiastic Dungeons & Dragons player. He performed at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival with his high school jazz band. After obtaining a degree in history at the University of Texas in 1989, he moved to Wisconsin and began working for TSR, Inc., a Dungeons & Dragons publisher, then moved on to be an editor for Dragon, a Dungeons & Dragons magazine. Not long after, he moved back to Texas to be a freelance roleplaying game writer.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 17, 2024
RTC(no time for now).
July 29, 2024
I will admit that at first, I was nervous about the pace. I wasn't sure we were going to get to much action by the time the show was over. Ultimately, I think Reid did a good job building out the city, the economy, and the major players. We learn pretty early on that Arabar is a city ruled by merchants and the faith of the day is coin (there is a strong influence of Waukeen, the Goddess of Commerce, in the city as well).
The prologue does a good job setting up the story. The plot is a bit of a slow burn, but again, there is a lot more set up for a trilogy than a one-off novel. Not a lot of magic and monsters, but we get enough to feel that we are in a fantasy world. Ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, and I am excited to get into the next book!
The prologue does a good job setting up the story. The plot is a bit of a slow burn, but again, there is a lot more set up for a trilogy than a one-off novel. Not a lot of magic and monsters, but we get enough to feel that we are in a fantasy world. Ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, and I am excited to get into the next book!
May 18, 2010
The Sapphire Crescent by Thomas M. Reid- This is the first book in The Scions of Arrabar Trilogy. The second book is called The Ruby Guardian and the third book is called The Emerald Scepter. The Sapphire Crescent is set in the Forgotten Realms setting. Thomas M. Reid's other Forgotten Realms novels include; The Empyrean Odyssey (The Gossamer Plain, The Fractured Sky, and The Crystal Mountain) and one book in R. A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen series called Insurrection. His other works include; Truth & Steel, Forged, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Gridrunner. He has also contributed a number of short stories to various anthologies. The trilogy is currently only available used or from online sellers. The Sapphire Crescent was released in 2003 by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Vambran Matrell returns home to Arrabar for his younger sisters' sixteenth birthday party only to have both of them witness a murder by the city watch. Determined to revenge the slain, Vambran embarks on a mission to find out who is responsible for the deaths. As Vambran gets closer to learning the truth, his sister, Emriana, does some investigating on her own. What they find surprises both of them and could implicate their family and ruin their lives.
Negatives:
1) Villains. To be honest, I thought the main villains, that we see, were a joke. They presented themselves as more of a comedy duo then anything else and I just could not buy it. However, as the story starts to end, the other conspirators that were discovered were better and not as pathetic. The 'starting' villains were a sad joke and the 'hidden' villains were better and more menacing. However, even though the 'hidden' villains were better, they still were generic and obvious. There was really only one villain, who only appeared for about five pages, who was the most interesting, but I can't really take a character that only appears for five pages into too much consideration, right?
2) The Last Third of the Book. To put it simply, the last one hundred or so pages were just frustrating. I found myself yelling at some characters because they just came off pathetic and dumb. The whole thing can be traced back to a huge plot hole. Late in the story, Vambran is chasing after someone who hurt a family member and winds up losing him in an alley. So what does Vambran do? Wait for the person to come back. Let me repeat that one more time. Vambran, instead of returning back to check on his family, waits for the thug to return. Why? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to hurry back to his family to keep them safe? There is some poor excuse that emotions clouding his judgment, but that felt forced and unreal. Speaking of stupid actions, we have another one that Vambran commits later. After hearing one villain say to his sister that he will have his way with her, Vambran comes into the room and threatens him with a drawn crossbow bolt. Honestly, if someone threatened a family member with rape, how many people would take the advantage away by threatening them and not just outright kill the guy? Sure, Vambran has this 'ethical code' that he can't hurt an unsuspecting man, but he just threatened to rape your sister! Then he acts like the whole thing wasn't a big deal. There are more problems that come up during the last third of the book and it just adds to my frustration.
Positives:
1) Main Characters. The characters of Vambran and Emriana were really well thought out characters. The story felt like it was more character driven than anything else. Vambran was good. You can understand and easily see his views on certain actions. Yes, he does make some really stupid mistakes (look at the second negative above), but for the most part you understand his viewpoint. He's written in a way that almost makes him into a living being. Emriana was the same way, but to a lesser extent. She still was great and she really seemed like a teenager at times. She also suffers from the stupidity bug, but it isn't as bad. You can blame most of her 'mistakes' on being that age and being relatively sheltered. Emriana was still a good character. The big problem was everyone else felt shallow, unreal, and wooden. But at least the main characters were good.
2) Murder Mystery. I really did enjoy the whole murder mystery plot. It was really fun trying to find out who did it and who was involved. I'm not really going to elaborate much without giving away the plot, but it really was engaging and interesting, not to mention fun. Not to mention that it was a shock to see who was involved. But it does get a little ridiculous with the twists. It still is a fun mystery.
Side Notes:
1) Containment. I really did like how, for most of the story, everything was contained. It felt like a stand-alone novel, up until the ending.
2) Hard to Follow. There were times when the story and actions were hard to follow. It didn't really hurt the story, but it was just hard to envision these people doing some of these things.
3) Cover Art. It's not horrible and it does do a good job in showing Vambran, but honestly, it looks like a romance novel cover.
Overall: 3/5
Final Thoughts:
The Sapphire Crescent is a fairly decent story. It's mostly character driven and it does have an interesting murder mystery. But I just can't overlook the flaws. The villains were awful for seventy-five percent of the story, and were only interesting in the last quarter. The last one hundred pages were just plot hole upon plot hole, and it makes everything frustrating and annoying to read. It's not an awful book, but at the same time I can't say it was great or good. If you like interesting characters and a decent mystery, pick it up.
Vambran Matrell returns home to Arrabar for his younger sisters' sixteenth birthday party only to have both of them witness a murder by the city watch. Determined to revenge the slain, Vambran embarks on a mission to find out who is responsible for the deaths. As Vambran gets closer to learning the truth, his sister, Emriana, does some investigating on her own. What they find surprises both of them and could implicate their family and ruin their lives.
Negatives:
1) Villains. To be honest, I thought the main villains, that we see, were a joke. They presented themselves as more of a comedy duo then anything else and I just could not buy it. However, as the story starts to end, the other conspirators that were discovered were better and not as pathetic. The 'starting' villains were a sad joke and the 'hidden' villains were better and more menacing. However, even though the 'hidden' villains were better, they still were generic and obvious. There was really only one villain, who only appeared for about five pages, who was the most interesting, but I can't really take a character that only appears for five pages into too much consideration, right?
2) The Last Third of the Book. To put it simply, the last one hundred or so pages were just frustrating. I found myself yelling at some characters because they just came off pathetic and dumb. The whole thing can be traced back to a huge plot hole. Late in the story, Vambran is chasing after someone who hurt a family member and winds up losing him in an alley. So what does Vambran do? Wait for the person to come back. Let me repeat that one more time. Vambran, instead of returning back to check on his family, waits for the thug to return. Why? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to hurry back to his family to keep them safe? There is some poor excuse that emotions clouding his judgment, but that felt forced and unreal. Speaking of stupid actions, we have another one that Vambran commits later. After hearing one villain say to his sister that he will have his way with her, Vambran comes into the room and threatens him with a drawn crossbow bolt. Honestly, if someone threatened a family member with rape, how many people would take the advantage away by threatening them and not just outright kill the guy? Sure, Vambran has this 'ethical code' that he can't hurt an unsuspecting man, but he just threatened to rape your sister! Then he acts like the whole thing wasn't a big deal. There are more problems that come up during the last third of the book and it just adds to my frustration.
Positives:
1) Main Characters. The characters of Vambran and Emriana were really well thought out characters. The story felt like it was more character driven than anything else. Vambran was good. You can understand and easily see his views on certain actions. Yes, he does make some really stupid mistakes (look at the second negative above), but for the most part you understand his viewpoint. He's written in a way that almost makes him into a living being. Emriana was the same way, but to a lesser extent. She still was great and she really seemed like a teenager at times. She also suffers from the stupidity bug, but it isn't as bad. You can blame most of her 'mistakes' on being that age and being relatively sheltered. Emriana was still a good character. The big problem was everyone else felt shallow, unreal, and wooden. But at least the main characters were good.
2) Murder Mystery. I really did enjoy the whole murder mystery plot. It was really fun trying to find out who did it and who was involved. I'm not really going to elaborate much without giving away the plot, but it really was engaging and interesting, not to mention fun. Not to mention that it was a shock to see who was involved. But it does get a little ridiculous with the twists. It still is a fun mystery.
Side Notes:
1) Containment. I really did like how, for most of the story, everything was contained. It felt like a stand-alone novel, up until the ending.
2) Hard to Follow. There were times when the story and actions were hard to follow. It didn't really hurt the story, but it was just hard to envision these people doing some of these things.
3) Cover Art. It's not horrible and it does do a good job in showing Vambran, but honestly, it looks like a romance novel cover.
Overall: 3/5
Final Thoughts:
The Sapphire Crescent is a fairly decent story. It's mostly character driven and it does have an interesting murder mystery. But I just can't overlook the flaws. The villains were awful for seventy-five percent of the story, and were only interesting in the last quarter. The last one hundred pages were just plot hole upon plot hole, and it makes everything frustrating and annoying to read. It's not an awful book, but at the same time I can't say it was great or good. If you like interesting characters and a decent mystery, pick it up.
June 30, 2021
I like the first part of the book, background, characters, intrigue.. a lot of priest and healing spell
but for my taste the ending is botched... Reid used the classic : I'm a bad guy so I do evil thing... last combat isn't epic and the end prepare us for another evil.
But I already started the second book, I'm still curious what will happen so it's a good sign :)
August 25, 2021
It's a decent entry into Forgotten Realms lore, exploring a bit of Arrabar. I wanted a bit more of the "fantasy" element, be it through unusual races or a bit more magic. The characters had personality, and the mystery was well done. Looking forward to the next part of the series.
October 14, 2018
"Punishment is far too convenient an excuse for the things men do to one another."
January 28, 2021
2nd read.
November 6, 2022
It was ok, not too interesting, not too boring. Quit reading halfway through
November 16, 2015
From the first chapter, I knew that I would enjoy my reading of The Sapphire Crescent by Thomas M. Reid. I have read a lot of Forgotten Realms books, but most of them feature Drizzt Do'Urden. Here I was pleased to find another part of Forgotten Realms that I didn't know existed. The Houses in Arrabar remind me of the powerful Houses of the Drow. Unlike the Drow Houses, the Houses in Arrabar are merchant houses: the stronger the house, the large the merchant business.
I really enjoyed the main characters and didn't see a lot of the plot twists coming, which always makes a book more interesting. And just when I thought I had things figured out again . . . bam, I was wrong again. That is one of the main reasons I liked The Sapphire Crescent, it always kept me guessing.
The other main reason is that I found this world intriguing. Like most worlds, power corrupts; and in the city of Arrabar, the same hold true. the only question is: How far up the ladder does this go? I look forward to watching these characters grow in the subsequent books.
Overall, The Sapphire Crescent by Thomas M. Reid as a fantastic start to a series that promises to keep the reader entertained for hours on end. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book in this series: The Ruby Guardian.
I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.
I really enjoyed the main characters and didn't see a lot of the plot twists coming, which always makes a book more interesting. And just when I thought I had things figured out again . . . bam, I was wrong again. That is one of the main reasons I liked The Sapphire Crescent, it always kept me guessing.
The other main reason is that I found this world intriguing. Like most worlds, power corrupts; and in the city of Arrabar, the same hold true. the only question is: How far up the ladder does this go? I look forward to watching these characters grow in the subsequent books.
Overall, The Sapphire Crescent by Thomas M. Reid as a fantastic start to a series that promises to keep the reader entertained for hours on end. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book in this series: The Ruby Guardian.
I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.
June 19, 2008
A decent book. Not the best fantasy novel I've ever read, but certainly not the worst. Some good magic imagery, some good sword fighting.
January 3, 2012
Slow. Even for a D&D novel, slow.
August 3, 2011
Very good start to a trilogy, made me go out and get the second novel. Good read, fast paced.
May 5, 2013
amazing story!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews